Activists create human chain for Palestine along Sea Point promenade

Umayya Theba, one of the hundreds of protesters who formed a human chain on Saturday. Photos: Ashraf Hendricks

Hundreds of people formed a human chain along the Sea Point Promenade in Cape Town on Saturday afternoon to protest against Israel’s actions in Palestine.

29 November, the United Nations’ International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, marks the anniversary of the division of Palestine into an Arab and Jewish state in 1947.

The event in Cape Town on Saturday, according to a statement by the activists, was to protest “against genocide, apartheid, and the imperial forces.”

Activists carried placards calling for the release of political prisoner Marwan Barghouti, who is known as the “Palestinian Mandela”.

They also want the Apartheid Bill, introduced before parliament by Al-Jama-ah, to be passed, which would criminalise those who assist apartheid, as defined by the UN Apartheid Convention, in Israel.

They held a moment of silence for the people who have been killed, and sang the South African national anthem.

A long quilt was displayed to honour people killed in Gaza and in the Cape Flats.

A long quilt was displayed to honour those who have been violently killed.

The event was organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and Mothers4Gaza and supported by several civil society groups, trade unions, and political parties, including the ANC, EFF, MKP, Al-Jama-ah, and GOOD.

Professor Usuf Chikte of the PSC called for the release of the thousands of Palestinians still held in Israeli prisons, many without charge.

“No prison can ever kill a revolution,” he told attendees. “The Israeli apartheid regime is getting more desperate by the day. They continue to bomb Palestine, and we say we are going to stop it.”

“We, as South Africans, know this struggle,” said Jaamia Galant of the PSC in a statement before the event. “Our freedom remains incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinian people.”

Democracy Now reports an estimated 9,000 Palestinians are still held as political prisoners by Israel, after 2,000 were released in October as part of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

Since the ceasefire, attacks by Israel have decreased, but not stopped. UNICEF reports that two children a day have died during the ceasefire. There are also concerns about a lack of access to food and health care.

On Thursday, human rights organisation Amnesty International said Israel was “continuing to commit genocide” despite October’s ceasefire.

There have also been several violent attacks on Palestinians by settlers on the West Bank in recent weeks.

Marwan Barghouti is known as the “Palestinian Mandela”.

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